HABITUAL BEHAVIOR

"Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." - Albert Einstein

HABITS

Habits are routines of behavior that are repeated regularly (repetition), tend to occur subconsciously, without directly thinking consciously about them. Habitual behavior sometimes goes unnoticed in persons exhibiting them, because it is often unnecessary to engage in self-analysis when undertaking in routine tasks. Habituation is an extremely simple form of learning, in which an organism, after a period of exposure to a stimulus, stops responding to that stimulus in varied manners. Habits are sometimes compulsory.

We behave, in the main, due to our
habits, which are a result of repeated patterns of thinking.

In other words, our repeated patterns of thinking express themselves as our
habitual patterns of behavior and experience.

Our brain (represented by the brow
center - chakra 6)
is the command center that influences the behavior of the 5 other centers below
it (chakras 1 - 5).

"As we think, so our holistic behavior
becomes."

Many of our habits are due to the
mental conditioning process of our early life - or any other formative and
influential times in our life (mentorship, relationships, etc..)

WHO'S IN CHARGE? US OR OUR HABITS?

Forming habits which become ingrained
will yield results. I've hesitated to say the results you really want
because it depends on what you're doing. Are your habits keeping you stuck
or are they moving you forwards? If one of your habits is spending too much
time planning and not enough time doing, then you're not likely to achieve
your desired results.

To break unproductive habits but to add
habits which will move you forward is one of the goals of coaching. These
daily habits can be fairly small but will gradually amount to something much
bigger.

Changing habits can be difficult and as your local Doctor will tell you it is best to "taper off" the habit by a process of reducing the frequency and amount of indulgence in the habit.

Keep it small to start with and as your
feeling of success increases, you can add to it. Your success lies with the
actions you take each day.

The reality of changing our
habits is explained well in the following story.

"A violent and angry man
goes to see a Nun because he is fed up with his mind. She gives him a bowl and
two bags. In one bag are black beads and in the other bag are white beads. She
tells him to put a white bead in his bowl every time he thinks a healthy and
positive thought or performs a good and wholesome act, and to put a black bead
in the bowl every time he thinks unhealthy and negative thoughts or performs
negative actions.

The man went away with his
beads and bowl. To begin with, at the end of each day his bowl was overflowing
with black beads and he was not happy.

'Look at all these black
beads,' he sighed, 'I will try to do a little better tomorrow.'

Eventually, white beads began
to show up in his bowl at the end of each day. He realized that he was getting a
little better and that changing habits is possible and we need to be gentle,
patient, kind and good to ourselves."

Remember to count your white
beads as well as your black ones! We need to be patient with ourselves and
others.

Changing habits takes time and
it is better to proceed with a steady and gradual change than an extreme method
of fits and starts. Extremities rarely work and can be more harm than good.